Page 12 of Weave the Dark, Weave the Light
Jonathan shuddered, and his voice dripped with the edge of a moan. “Everything goes two ways, Ari. Magic. Sex. Answers. Come home with me tonight.”
Ari turned in Jonathan’s arms so they could claim his mouth. Once they’d kissed Jonathan into a writhing mess, they answered, “I can do that.”
His smile was a spell of its own. “Good.”
* * *
That night,Ari packed a bag and rode the T with Jonathan to his South Hill’s home. “Tomorrow,” Jonathan said, “if you’d like, we can visit my shop.”
“I still find strange that you have a shop. And a job. And a home.” They ran their hand along his thigh. “All normal things.”
He caught their hand and laced his fingers between theirs. “Even the fae exist in this world. Some are hidden, yes, but when you live for long enough you get—bored.”
“Am I a cure for yourboredom?” They raised an eyebrow.
Jonathan pressed the stop request strip. “Being alive is a cure for my boredom. You, my dear, are a wonderful, unexpected delight.”
Jonathan’s energy twined inside them, coiling like a snake. Ice and fire. So many questions Ari needed to ask, so much they wanted to know.
Jonathan stood. “This is my stop.”
Together they made their way out of the train onto the platform. The night was cold and clear, with few stars peeking out from the moonlight sky. Ari’s breath clouded the air as they peered into the night. “Can you see yourself up there? You’re not in two places at the same time, are you?”
Jonathan glanced up. “When it’s dark enough, yes. But I’m not in two places.” He waved his free hand at the sky. “When you look at the stars, you’re looking backward in time. This is now.” He gestured to the street beyond the train platform. “I’m right here with you.”
Withthem. That was terrifying. “This still isn’t a romance.”
“Does it need to be?” Jonathan hadn’t unlaced his fingers from theirs.
Ari turned the question over in their mind as Jonathan led them into a residential area.
Another dangerous question slipped past their lips. “What do you want this to be?”
Jonathan slowed to a stop. Breath still smoked into the night, and Ari resisted slipping their hand into Jonathan’s coat. There was light in his eyes, sparkling and gentle. Ari ached standing near him.
He brushed his fingers against their cheek. “You lead, Ari. I’ll follow. Whatever you wish.”
“So, I get to wish upon you?”
A dark smile. “You get to do many,manythings upon me.”
“Then we should go to your house, so I can do that.” Lovely things. Wicked things. Things that would make Jonathan moan and scream. Magic things. They’d devour Jonathan’s energy and thrust it back into him. Make him bleed.
Weave me a spell.
The streets were quiet but for the distant sound of cars and the deep thrum of gas furnaces cooling homes. Ari sensed the fire there, warm and inviting, even as Jonathan’s cold flame tangled around their legs. “I called you.”
“And I came.”
“I should have called sooner.”
A bright cloud of air came with Jonathan’s laugh. “Perhaps. But we have time.”
Did they? Jonathan had time. He could look into the past and see himself in the sky. Ari guessed Jonathan’s future was as seemingly endless. But their life—that was another story. Though, right now, they were young and herewithJonathan.
A turn down a street, then half a block. “Here we are.”
Jonathan’s home wasn’t big, but it was brick and light shown from the windows where the blinds hadn’t been pulled down. The ubiquitous hum of heating rumbled from the house, a hint of fire seeping out.
